AFC Championship Game 2014: Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie suffers early injury
By Josh Hill
If there’s one thing that many fans and analysts were saying would dictate the game, it was the injuries the Broncos have suffered leading up to the AFC Championship Game. One thing we didn’t count too heavily on was the team losing players in the game, but that’s exactly what happened early on in the contest.
After the Patriots suffered an early scare with Alfonzo Dennard, the Broncos lost Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie on a vicious play that saw him get decked by Julian Edelman.
The play was flagged for a separate incident, and Edelman’s block on Cromartie was not flagged, as it was not illegal. But the hit did knock a few screws loose on Rodgers-Cromartie and he lay on the turf for a few moments afterwords, before having to get helped off.
So far, the injuries haven’t had a serious impact on the game, as there’s been no Percy Harvin or Jamaal Charles type injury that shifts things significantly. But if the hits keep coming like they are, and the bodies keep dropping, we could see a big injury play a major impact in the momentum of the game.